The government of Puerto Rico distributed the following media release on Friday afternoon:

SAN JUAN – Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló said he would support “a federally-sponsored, binding political status plebiscite on the admission of Puerto Rico as a state of the Union.”

Rosselló’s statements were made in light of a recently released letter by the current Chairman of the House National Resources Committee, with jurisdiction over Puerto Rico, Utah Representative Rob Bishop, in which he asks Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to support a federally sponsored political status referendum on statehood for Puerto Rico.

The federally-sponsored political status referendum would ask citizens if Puerto Rico should be admitted as a state: Yes or No.

“In the last seven years, our people have twice rejected our colonial relationship with the United States and favored equal rights for the American citizens of Puerto Rico, voting overwhelmingly in support of statehood for Puerto Rico,” said Governor Rosselló.

“Reaffirming our call for Puerto Rico statehood, I am grateful for the support received from Congressman Bishop and I am willing to support a federal-sponsored, binding political status referendum whose result with allow for Puerto Rico to become the 51st state of the Union,” he said.

“Puerto Rico’s current colonial political status is not sustainable. Our generation has been called upon to deliver justice to our people once and for all,” concluded Governor Rosselló.